Greenfield Indiana Tenderloin

The Mug in Greenfield has glowing reviews (for the most part) and has been recommended to me numerous times as having the best Breaded Tenderloin in the state. Holly and I found ourselves headed to Knightstown, Indiana where I was doing a benefit show at the Historic Hoosier Gym, so we took advantage of the situation to make a stop in Greenfield and give The Mug a try.

One of the challenges in writing about food is to maintain impartiality. I might like the business and what they do, I might know the owners personally, but in the end, it comes down to two things: how was the food and how was the experience. That being said, The Mug sources most of their food locally, and that’s a huge point in their favor. They’re a local business, not a chain, and that’s another point in their favor. Unfortunately, The Mug falls far short in several other areas.

We arrived, and our server asked us if we’d ever been there before, which we responded we had not. She took a few moments to explain the menu to us, taking pride in the fact that the food was locally sourced, and we appreciated that.

My mind was already made up; I was going for the breaded tenderloin. While Holly was choosing her meal, I observed an interaction that was unsettling to me. A diner went up to the counter and asked for silverware (plastic ware, actually, no big deal). However, I observed an employee get the utensils, drop them on the floor, pick them up, and hand them to the customer. Yes, they were wrapped, but in my mind, this is absolutely inexcusable. I’m no clean freak, but I found it quite disturbing and made me wonder what other unsanitary practices they have.

Holly decided on her meal, (more about this later) and we saw these wonderful, hand-cut fries being served. We asked if fries came with a sandwich, and our server told us we could order a combo and get fries or apple slices and a drink. Unfortunately, if you order a combo, as we found out, the hand cut fries are NOT the fries you get. If you order a combo, you get frozen out of the bag fries – which was a huge disappointment. In our server’s defense, the menu *does* list both kinds of fries as side offerings, and it does list the French Fries (not the hand cut fries) as the fries you get with your combo, but I gotta tell ya…for our first visit there, and the server KNOWING it was our first visit there, this seemed very confusing and a bit deceptive. Just a few more seconds of explanation on the server’s part could have eliminated the confusion, and we would have known exactly what to expect. But alas, that did not happen.

So, how was the tenderloin? It LOOKS good, but, actually, it’s pretty substandard. The breading is quite heavy with cornmeal, and it overpowered the taste of everything else in the sandwich, even the meat. The meat, wasn’t what I would call “bad”, but it was not as tender or moist as I expected. I also encountered two pieces of gristle in the meat, which, for me, further detracted from the experience. For a hand-breaded tenderloin, I’m going to give it a 2 out of 5 bites, a bit below average.

For her dinner, Holly chose a burger…but not just any burger – a burger she couldn’t refuse! It should be noted that, by choice, Holly does not eat a lot of red meat. Most often, she prefers chicken, fish, or even a vegetarian dish. So when she chooses to eat beef, it’s a special treat. The burger she chose was the Jalapeno Cream Cheese Bacon Burger. It was an amazing looking offering. She did not know it when she ordered it, but the jalapeno cream cheese part of the burger comes from two jalapeno poppers on the top of the burger below the crowning bun. Inherently, this is not a bad thing at all…except for one, major issue: the poppers tasted freezer burned. This one detail was enough to make the entire sandwich fall short of being edible. Add that to the fact that her combo did not include the fresh cut fries she was expecting – and this made for a quite disappointing meal.

The Mug does some things pretty well, I believe, and it’s always possible that we hit them on an off day. However, as it stands, it’s a place I would meet friends if they wanted to meet, but would not make a special trip to eat there.
The Mug is located at 117 Apple Street in Greenfield, Indiana. Their website is www.themug.com

Being a food reviewer is always a gamble. You walk into a place that you think will be stellar experience, and you walk out disappointed, and sometimes think a place will be average, and you’ll walk out saying to yourself, “WOW”.

That’s what happened to us earlier this week. We had some business to attend to with the American Legion Post in Greenfield, so we decided to eat in the café, which is located in the same building as the Legion.

The Great American Grill is a small, home town diner, nicely decorated with photos and memorabilia of our veterans, with a TV tuned to a local channel in the corner. There’s a jukebox, and the place is absolutely squeaky clean. That was my first impression…just how nice, neat, and clean this place was.

When we arrived, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to get for dinner….frankly, my experience in places like this was that tenderloins are often premade, frozen fritters. But when I saw they offered their tenderloin in breaded OR grilled, (which is always a good sign) I decided to take a chance.

And, boy howdy, I am glad I did. Let me tell you, folks, this is one outstanding sandwich. As I learned later, it’s hand cut daily and hand breaded. This is a nice sized sandwich without being overwhelming. The meat is nice and thick (actually…it’s not uniform…due to the hand pounding and hand cut…and that’s a BIG plus for me) and it’s moist and tasty. The breading is simply fantastic! I neglected to ask what their breading consists of, but it’s among the best I’ve ever had. Nice and crunchy, but it’s not so thick as to detract from the taste and texture of the meat.

There’s nice attention to detail here, the sandwich was served EXACTLY as I ordered, which isn’t always the case. The service was attentive and friendly, and the price was right – sandwich and chips for $6.95. This sandwich is 5 out of 5 bites, no doubt about it.

For her meal, Holly chose the pulled pork bbq sandwich – also served with chips for $4.95. This is an ample sandwich. For the money, if you’re hungry, you can’t beat the price. She felt they kind of skimped on the chips, and the meat was absolutely swimming in sauce…not her preference, but again, for the bottom line value of this meal, it was a winner.

The American Legion is located at 275 Center Street in Greenfield, Indiana. The entire building is non-smoking, and the café is open from 11AM-7PM, Monday through Saturday.

Today’s Tenderloin review comes to you largely by accident! Holly and I had been to Greenfield to play a gig, after which we went to spend some time visiting her mother. We were headed home, and our intention was to grab a quick drive through meal on the way home. We headed for McDonald’s, and there was a HUGE line. As we were trying to decide where to head next, we saw Ro’s Bar & Grill, and the chalkboard sign out front featuring a “Sirloin Steak and 1 Side: $5.99” and decided to stop in.

Inside, Ro’s is really, really fun. Although it’s 21 and over, it’s non smoking…a HUGE plus for me. The walls are decorated with lots and lots of sports stuff, there are pool tables, dart boards, and other games.

We were greeted promptly by our server, and when we said we had never been there before, she went through the menu with us. Outstanding service, I must say! The sign for the steak dinner special led us in and it was my intention to have a steak dinner this cold Friday night.

But I saw they have a breaded tenderloin on their menu, so I asked the waitress about it. She said, “It’s the Bomb!!!”. OK….I believe that’s a good thing, right? I decided to try it, after she told me they’re hand cut and hand breaded.

The first thing I noticed when they brought it out was that this thing was HUGE….one of the largest I’ve ever had. And, it’s not pounded out paper thin, either, there is some heft to the meat.

The meat itself is very tender and moist, and there is not a hint of gristle on it. The breading was REALLY flaky, making a delightful mess on the plate as I devoured the sandwich. It hangs WELL over all sides of the bun, where was perfectly toasted, and the condiments were brought exactly as I ordered…mayo on the bun, ketchup on the side, and onion…and as an added treat, this sandwich had not one, but TWO slices of onion on it. Everything works well together on this sandwich, and it’s a bargain at $6.99 and that includes an order of fries. For $1.00 more, you can upgrade the fries to Onion Rings or other side choices.

So, this sandwich has a perfectly toasted bun, great flavor, flaky breading, and it’s huge. I can give it no less than a 5 out of 5 bites…as good as it gets!
Holly had the $5.99 steak special, and proclaimed it very good. There was a little issue with that meal, though, and shows that Ro’s needs to pay a little attention to detail. On the board outside, it’s advertised as a $5.99 special. When we got the bill, we were charged $6.99. Come to find out, the special goes up $1.00 at 5 PM, which is when we were in there. $1.00 isn’t a big deal, however, if you’re going to change your prices, please change you signs and advise your customers when that happens. It’s not good for repeat business if you don’t.

Overall, it was a very good dining experience, the above paragraph notwithstanding. A 5 star tenderloin is always reason to go back!

Ro’s Bar and Grill is located at 1415 N State Street, Greenfield, Indiana 46140.